anybody in my team, whether secretary of state, our u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. that's not what we do. >> their wing men, the running mates, both declare victory. >> president obama was absolutely at the top of his game last night and i also think that he was able to clearly draw a picture between a future under obama and a future under romney. >> he clearly changes tactic. they said he would change his tactic but his answers didn't change. he didn't offer any new idea about how the next four years would be any different than the last four years. >> did they answer the questions? but the line that everyone is talking about today -- >> i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks and they brought us binders full of women.

>> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in new york. today president obama and governor romney trying to capitalize on their debate performances in three of the most politically valuable battleground states. a lot of the buzz surrounding the two candidates is about that verbal brawl last night. the brawl that broke out at hofstra. joining me now for our daily fix chris cizilla, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and mark halperin senior political analyst for "time" and msnbc. chris to you as a viewer, not rating the debate, winners or losers, not that, but who answered questions and who was responsive to the people in the room and people at home? >> my read out on it, andrea, i watched it live and rewatched some of the clips, i have not watched the whole thing again, so let me say that as a caveat, but my read is neither of them really answered that many questions. candy crowley, i think, to her credit, repeatedly kind of said, you answered apples and the

question was oranges. they did not answer the questions that were asked of them broadly. at one point there was a question about gas prices and we started talking about china. they kind -- as you go along in the debate, they each are trying to correct what they view as errors they made before so they use whatever question is asked to go back and say, now let me just make one point here. so i don't think from an undecided voter's viewpoint if you were looking for more information about where the two of them stand, i think you didn't get all that much of it. if you love the theatrics of these debates, if you love the back and forth, if you love the kind of awkward personal space invasion, then you enjoyed this debate quite a bit. i'd put myself in that category. i'm not sure there was that much deep policy discussion there. i don't think it was totally nonsubstantive but it -- the level of question and answering was not i think what we all hope it might be? >> and, in fact, mark halperin,

one of the things we're talking about this morning on "morning joe," was that men and women may have reacted differently. we'll have to test this differently and see what polls say next week. a lot of the men seemed to like that interaction. women thought wait a second, this is a bit too much. one of the substantive issues they did mix it up on was libya and the it's reaction, the romney team has been primed to go after the administration about its initial reaction. this is how the president handled it and how mitt romney got himself in a bit of trouble. >> the day after the attack, governor, i stood in the rose garden and i told the american people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror. >> i think it's interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack he went in the rose garden and said that this was an act of terror. >> that's what i said. >> in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror?

wit not a spontaneous demonstration. >> please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did in fact, sir. let me call it an act of terror. >> can you say that a little louder, candy. >> he did call it an act of terror. >> now, yes, there was confusion and what susan rice said five days later, didn't have perhaps enough caveats but the president in the rose garden did refer to an act of terror and the death of four diplomats. >> well, if you look at the transcript he didn't necessarily link them directly and you did have white house officials -- it's open to interpretation, but the white house press secretary not being willing to label it an act of terror immediately in the wake of what the president said. you know i don't know that focusing on parsing that is necessarily what voters are going to be concerned about. i think the bigger issue for me

in that moment was governor romney's failure to take something that pretty much 100,000 conservative pundits and activists and politicians could have taken the moment to make a macro point about the way the administration has handled what happened in benghazi to speak to larger themes about the president's leadership they want to project to voters and governor romney almost failed on that. you won't find many republicans tell you anything other than governor romney failed on that answer. >> now, both -- to both chris and mark, we look at where they are today. and clearly ohio and virginia, those are the important state right now. mark, first to you, the battleground as you now see it post-debate, shaping up in this next three weeks? >> it's great fun to play with the map and pretend we live in a country with 50 states but, in fact, we've been down to a nine state election now down to a two state election. the president has had a big advantage in the electoral college and governor romney

still needs to overcome that. all nine states the president won four years ago. if governor romney is able to win virginia, florida and north carolina, virginia the toughest of the three, then he's in a stronger position, but then it hinges on ohio. i think the president -- governor romney basically has to win those four states. if he does, if he wins the three southern battle xwroundss, virginia, north carolina and florida and finds a way to win ohio he is in a commanding position. he needs to win one of the remaining five states in yellow and probably would win at least one of those five. if he's unable to win those four, all of the four, i think his chances of winning are die mini muss. >> that is almost like drawing a royal flush. >> yeah. >> drawing a straight. >> i would -- i would one up mark halperin and say it's not two states it's really one state though mark is right in his broad analysis. if mitt romney can't win ohio, his paths to 270 electoral votes

while not impossible become close to implausible. that it does wind up having him -- having to run a set of states that include places like iowa, nevada, colorado, new hampshire which he could do but it's not likely he would do. i just think there's a reason no republican has been elected president without winning the state of ohio. i just think that's the place mitt romney has to find a way and we've seen the last two weeks his numbers have bounced back there some, but he's still behind. he has to find a way to turn that state. it's 18 electoral votes. you know, that makes up for a lot of problems in colorado or nevada or new hampshire or iowa. it's a big electoral treasure trove and i just think without that, he doesn't get there. >> now with -- thank you very much to chris cizilla and to mark halperin. everybody needs to get some sleep, i think this has been -- what a stretch we're heading to florida next. with the polls showing a narrowing in the gender gap advantage the president has had

among women a point of emphasis was women in the work place. the questions came up both men went to their records. >> the first bill i signed was something called the lilly ledbetter bill. so we fixed that. and that's an example of the kind of advocacy that we need. >> important topic. and one which i learned a great deal about, particularly as i was serving as governor of my state. because i had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men. so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds to become qualified to be members of our cabinets. i wenchts to women's groups. can you find folks. they brought us binders full of women. it has gone viral. kerry little a campaign adviser but served as lieutenant governor for romney in massachusetts. you were there then and know what happened when he was shaping the government. according to the organization

the political women's political caucus massachusetts government appointments project, massgap, you're familiar with, they say they did present lists of women to both candidates then, and that, in fact, for the first couple of years that the romney administration and romney haley administration had a pretty good record, improved new appointments of women to 42%. but then in the last couple of years of the administration, it fell back to only 25%. at least that's their numerical take. numbers don't tell everything. but when you heard him say binders full of women, did you -- was that sort of a male or a romney -- how did you react to it? >> i spent hours going -- pouring over the resumes in those binders. i knew what he was talking about. i know everyone is having perhaps a good laugh about this. but the real point there is that governor romney not only just took that promise, that pledge that he made to the massachusetts women's political caucus if he were elected he

would, in fact, seek to make half of his cabinet and top appointments women but he said wait, there's a challenge here. we're not getting enough great women's resumes coming in, we have to make sure we make -- reach out and take care of all of the advantages we have to get those good names in. and the massachusetts women's political caucus had been collecting names of women who were ready, willing and able to seven in the event that a republican or democrat came into office. they were going to provide those names to us. i was their liaison, sat down with them and reviewed those names and we did end up hiring some of the people they suggested. >> so you were going through the binders full of names we should point out, not binders full of women. but i mean the point is, was this at his initiative? >> of course. >> or was it at their initiative? were they pressing? >> both candidates -- >> the massachusetts women caucus approached both candid e candidates before the election and take the pledge.

governor romney willingly took the pledge. he has always promoted women in the work place. he was pleased to do this. and he appointed me to be the liaison to make sure this got done. it did get done. he used sources both from his private sector years also people on the transition and also the massachusetts women's political caucus. >> i want to you about the contraception issue and blunt amendment. this is what governor romney said last night at the debate. >> i just note that i don't believe that bureaucrats in washington should tell someone whether they can use contraceptives or not or employers whether they can have contraceptive care or not. every women in america should have access to contraceptives and the president's statement of my policy is completely and totally wrong. >> however, governor romney last february repeatedly asked did his staff, that he did support the blunt amendment. the blunt amendment -- after initially saying he didn't. he said he did. that was his final word on it. the blunt amendment as written would have given employers the

right to declare a moral or religious waiver, an opt out if you will, of providing employer provided contraceptive care in their insurance. so, wasn't had he misstating his own position last night? >> not in any way. governor romney is both a strong supporter of religious freedom and also believes in access to contraception for american women. so there was no -- >> where is the access -- where is the access? if you are a women of not great means you can't go outside your own employer based insurance and your employer opt out, which is what the blunt amendment would permit them to do you do not have access to insurance provider contraceptive care. >> this whole conversation is a distraction from the obama administration's failure on women's issues generally. >> these were governor romney's words from last night. >> 500,000 women -- more women unemployed today than when

president obama came into office. there are more women living in poverty today than any time in the last 17 years. >> governor romney made those points. >> these are the issues we should be talking about. the question of whether or not we should force someone to give up their religious freedom to provide insurance coverage in some hypothetical situation, is not really the point most women out there -- there are 5.5 million unemployed women in the country. did we have a discussion last night? did president obama put out his plan about how to get those women back in the work force last night? he did not. he has an empty binder when it examines to proposals about how to women in america. >> with all due respect is it not a pocketbook issue for millions of women who depend on tharp insurance, their medical insurance that they get at work, if their employer says i have a moral or religious objective then they do not have access to contraceptives as mitt romney said last night he should have. that is a pocketbook issue. it's dallas and cents. >> one of the -- dollars and

cents. >> one of the core freedoms we have as people here in america is our religious freedom. and we cannot infringe on that. >> well, except that as some people have suggested, they as employers may have a personal and religious view but they do not have the right to interfere with what their employees do. there's a different debate over the blunt amendment and the fact is -- >> governor romney has made it clear where he stands on that. >> he didn't make it clear last night. >> he made it clear that he believes in enforcing religious freedom in this regard but he also strongly supports women's access to contraception and any effort to say he doesn't -- >> if they can pay for it on their own. >> if the women can pay for it on their own if they have the sneens the problem here is that we are talking about these peripheral issues. we need to really be talking about employment, jobs, that's what women care about. they care about whether they can provide for themselves and their families and governor romney is right there with the solutions that are going to help women in this country do just that.

>> kerry healy, thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. and president obama has just taken the stage. he is campaigning today and it's the morning after. let's hear his reactions to last night. >> we've got your outstanding senator tom harken. [ applause ] >> congressman bruce braley. [ applause ] another congressman who has -- i guess professor emeritus right here, dave lowsack. two of my oldest friends in iowa, my co-chairs back in 2008, your attorney general tom miller. [ applause ] and your treasurer, mike fitzgerald. [ applause ] and i'm thrilled to see all of

you and i hope you're enjoying the warm weather. because -- because -- >> i love you. >> i love you back. [ applause ] because -- i just want to know, look, i'm from chicago. and -- and i've campaigned in iowa in january, so this is basically the warmest you will be for the next six months. now, i -- i've come back to cornell college today, come back, to ask each of you for one big thing, i'm asking for your vote. i'm asking for your vote. in iowa, you can vote today.

today. as long as you're registered before october 27th, you can vote right up to election day. in fact, you can go vote right after this event at the cole library. so -- and anyone can find out how to register and where to vote at vote.barack obama.com. iowa, are you going to vote for me today if you haven't already voted? i need you. i need you. now, as many of you know, we had our second debate last night. you know, i'm -- i'm still trying to figure out, you know, how to get the hang of this thing. debating. but we're working on it. you know, we'll keep on improving as time goes on. i've got one left.

but, you know, the interesting thing is, that governor romney has been running around talking about his five-point plan for the economy for quite some time and as i pointed out last night and you heard yourselves it's really a one-point plan. it's really a one-point plan. it says, folks at the very top, can play by their own set of rules. that's why they can pay lower taxes than you do. or they can use offshore accounts. or they can invest in a company, bankrupt it, fire the workers, take away their pensions, ship the jobs overseas, and still make money doing it. it's -- it's the one-point plan that says it's okay for wault to

keep engaging in the reckless behavior that got us into the mess we've been fighting back from for the last four years. it's the same philosophy that's been squeezing middle-class families for more than a decade. it's the same philosophy that we saw in the previous administration and i have seen too much pain and too much struggle to let this country go down that same road again. so iowa, we can't -- i want you to know -- [ applause ] . >> as you can see on the other side of your screen, mitt romney taking the podium in virginia, another battleground state with his day after. >> you grow this economy from the middle class out. we're not going to go back to what we were doing before. we're moving forward and that's why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states. >> what about his plan? we know his plan has not worked. and last night there are a lot of people that asked questions and i think they deserve some

answers on a number of fronts. i think it was jeremy who asked the question about how am i going to get a job when i get out of college. half the kids in this country not able to get work or college-level work coming out of college. that's a question that needs to be answered. and then you heard lorain say, when you promise, mr. president, to put in place an immigration reform bill in your first term, i guess it was me that asked this question, her idea, she brought up immigration, you promised to put it on your first term, highest priority, you would put out a bill in your first year, but you didn't even file a bill, she deserves an answer. and then we heard from michael, and he asked the question why should we vote for you? because the middle class is getting buried. i described all the ways the president failed to help lift the middle class. this is an election about the great middle class of america. it's helping people that are

poor get into the middle class, helping people in the middle class have a brighter future and he had no answer. as to why he had failed to help the middle class and why they're having such tough times. katherine -- >> and now the president still talking about the debate. let's have our own debate here. here's the president. >> doesn't add up. his jobs plan doesn't create jobs. his deficit reduction plan adds to the deficit. so iowa, you know, everybody here has heard of the new deal. you've heard of the fair deal. you've heard of the square deal. mitt romney trying to sell you a sketchy deal. we are not buying it. we know better. we've been there. we've tried that. we're not going back. we're moving forward. that's why i need your vote. we've got to finish what we started in 2008.

>> and romney is still talking. romney in virginia. >> and let me mention philip. philip was the first questioner of the night you may recall. he asked a question about the gasoline prices. and i pointed out they had gone from roughly about $1.86 a gallon when the president was elected to $4 a gallon and philip wanted to go up so much. the president's answer, the economy has gotten stronger. now on that basis when we have a real recovery, be he would suggest gasoline prices are going to go up to 6 or $8? this was the most classic of the nonanswers of the night. i think it's pretty clear that when it comes to his policies and his answers and agenda he's pretty much running on fumes and the american american people want real answers and a real agenda and that's why paul ryan and i will become the next president and vice president of the united states.

>> we can see you have mitt romney and the president, the president in iowa and heading to ohio, ohio, ohio, ohio, and mitt romney in virginia. with two stops there today. joining me now to talk about all of this, and last night's debate, of course, former democratic senate majority leader tom dashiell and michael steele, msnbc political analyst and former republican national chairman. first to you, tom dashiell, let's talk about the president because he brought his game. he was very aggressive last night. was he too aggressive? was he not responsive enough to people's questions? let's talk about how it went. >> andrea, i would give him a home run. i don't know how you can improve on what he did last night. he articulated had his vision for the country. he drew the differences between him and mr. romney. and he came off as a likable political leader. i think that's exactly what he needed to do last night. he did it all. he did it in a way that put mr. romney on the defensive,

contrary to what happened in the first debate. by all criteria i think he did exactly what he needed to do and did it very well. >> michael steele, was the president likable or to paraphrase the president when he was the candidate four years ago only likable enough? >> well, i think he was likable. he always is likable. i mean the polls confirm that. i would agree with senator dashiell that the president did do what he had to do last night. he had a very tall order to come clean up the mess he left on the floor in the first debate. joe biden started that process. the president last evening came in very strong, not as excitable or excited as joe biden, i don't think anyone ever could be, but the president did do what he had to do to make sure his base stirred back in his direction and that he did appropriately put romney on the defensive on a number of points. but it was also very clear, andrea, that romney got under the president's skin as well. and those exchanges, i don't

think were as helpful to both men as they otherwise could have been, certainly coming when you look at the first debate, even given the president's lack of participation, the vitriol and the personal animus between the two of them was palpable last evening and i don't think that's something a lot of those voters appreciate. in terms of death getting the job done, they both were in the box and manned up. substantively it was still a lot to be desired there because we didn't get as much as we needed i thought. >> let me ask both of you then, because michael you used the phrase they both manned up. the target for both candidates both campaigns, is largely independent women, suburban women voters. >> yeah. >> was it too much manning up, too aggressive in this boxing match last night? tom dashiell? >> actually, andrea, i thought that was one of his strengths. not only did he appeal to the

base but made an extraordinary effort to make sure he connected with certain constituencies. the minority community, the women in particular. he talked about lilly ledbetter, be he talked about the extraordinary effort he's made through health care to reach out to women. i thought one of the best exchanges of the night was his description of contraception and, of course, mr. romney, i thought, made probably the biggest mistake of the evening by talking about the way he talked about reaching out to women. not a very effective way to do it. and not very defenseble. there was a contrast that came out very clearly in that exchange, in that series of exchanges, that had helped mr. obama a good deal throughout the debate. >> go ahead, michael. >> i was going to say, i'll go back to what i stated earlier. i thought the manning up was a little overdone. i thought that there was a little too much aggression there. the women that i spoke to, the ones i saw tweeting last evening and those speaking afterwards really confirmed that for a lot of women, it did not play as

well. now look, the guys would like that stuff. we got our beer on the couch, watching this and saying you go. but for the women, and this is an election about women, ultimately, they are the new breadwinners in many respects in so many households across america having to deal with this economy, that, you know, this conversation was really geared towards them and needs to be geared towards them and some of that needed to be dialed back at the end of the day. >> one possible tactical error at least for romney, take a look at this exchange where romney brought up caring about 100% of americans. the president up until that point had not mentioned the, quote, 47%. let's watch. >> i care about 100% of the american people. i believe governor romney is a good man. loves his family. cares about his faith. but i also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country considered

themselves victims, who refused personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. >> tom dashiell, if there's any criticism of the president's performance last night of both of them, it's that they were trying to get all of their talking points in, the president had a heavier burden to carry because he was trying to do everything he did not do in denver, and wasn't really talking to the people in front of him who are the jury. the questioners on those bleachers. >> i have to say, andrea. i disagree with that. i've seen the president in a lot of these debates over the years, and i thought it was his strongest performance yet and i thought the close was exactly what he needed to do. not to have mentioned what really has become one of the biggest issues. who are you representing when you become president of the united states. i think that distinction was one the president had to make. whether he wanted to make it not he needed to find the right opportunity to make it and i

thought the close was the time. he wasn't just talking to that room full of undecided voters. he was talking to the country. i think in that context speaking directly as he did to the camera and to the people around, it seems to me that was the most compelling thing he could do, especially in a close like he was making at the time. very effective presentation. >> and michael steele, the president is being given credit by a lot of the analysts overnight about what he said about libya. he was in a rough spot. arguably on the facts. but when he really looked in that camera and looked at governor romney and said don't tell me that i don't care about these people i know these people they are my diplomats, that was pretty powerful stuff. >> it was powerful and very presidential in that moment. that's one of the dangers a challenger has on that national stage with the president of the united states when you tackle the foreign policy. two things there, though. the first, i thought romney exposed himself unnecessarily on the 47%. why would you volunteer that's the one thing that you want to

correct, you know, as an image about you when there was so many other things to pick from to open up the door for the president to lay out that closing argument as masterfully as he did. so that was a shortcoming for romney there. for the president, the libya issue was not resolved last night, despite candy crowley's help or lack thereof in this process. this now rolls over to next week's final debate on foreign policy where i assure you there's going to be a lot more digging by folks like yourself and others on the timeline, what the president knew, didn't know, what his state department did and didn't do on this issue. mitt romney i thought in many respects set that up very nicely for the final debate. >> michael steele and tom dasch daschle, many thanks to both of you. appreciate your postgame analysis. >> up next, trail mix. we're on the road in batt battleground ohio with paul ryan and condoleezza rice. she asked romney the question about women and pay equity. is she still undecided? we'll talk to katherine, one of

the questioners last night. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. victor! victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. the giants don't have a mascot! ohhh! eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. hmmm. for giant hunger! thanks mom! see ya! whoaa...oops! mom? i'm ok. grandma? hi sweetie! she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

now mitt romney is in virginia. we've been watching his speech. he is holding that rally at a local community college in chess speak, virginia. where we find nbc's peter alexander, always right at the side of the candidate. what a run you've had. >> 20 days but nobody is counting that's for sure. romney wrapping up his remarks as you can hear behind us a matter of a moments ago. he did make a statement in the final comments he wants to create an america where differences can be settled without personal attacks. that appeared to be an attack at the president for what the romney campaign views as a very attack oriented evening last night. the campaign obviously despite the jury still being out in terms of the way end pent and

undecided voters viewed last night's campaign, the number one issue those folks wanted to hear about the economy and believe that is where mitt romney was best. in terms of the libya issue getting a lot today, a senior adviser told me just a short time ago that the obama administration and the president himself is playing dodgeball with that issue and remains to be litigated in the days ahead. >> peter alexander, it will be we have a foreign policy debate. see you in boca, if not sooner. mitt romney's running mate paul ryan held a campaign rally in ohio with former secretary of state condoleezza rice rallying the republican base. that is a must win state. you all heard mark halperin today. ron mott in berea ohio. how is the crowd reaction? getting bigger crowds since the original debate in denver. it's been a lot of time spent in ohio. >> hey, andrea. yeah, we're spending a ton of time here. pretty good sized crowd here at

this baldwin wallace college where condi rice was with paul ryan. they're watching the cleveland browns practice. she's a big fan. she kicked off her speech as she did in the tampa republican national convention, the promise of america being threatened for the individual that the current course that country is on is going to make it difficult for younger people to realize the dreams of their parents and grandparents and so she says that's one reason why the country should vote for mitt romney and paul ryan that they've got a set of plans that will reverse the trend that the country is on with the run away deficit spending and the like. paul ryan for his part, talked about the standard stuff, the five-point plan that governor is proposing for a stronger middle class but he weighed in just a little bit on the first two presidential debates. take a look at his assessment of those first two. >> we saw a president offering not a single new idea on how to turn things around. we saw a president not offer a

single idea or a lesson learned from the fail yours of the last four years. >> andrea, we're bopping around the country primarily just to three places now, here in ohio, in virginia, and then tomorrow the next two days with paul ryan down in florida. those three states are the most heavily concentrated for campaigning and spending money. >> ron mott, from talking a lot of football in the past with condi rice as a child growing up in birmingham, because they didn't have a team to root for, she has always been at least as a child, a big cleveland browns fan. so this must be a great day for her as well. >> indeed. >> thanks, ron. and both candidates got a chance last night to answer specific questions about women's issues including this question from a 24-year-old woman, katherine fenton. >> in what new ways do you intend to rectify inequalities in the work place? >> joining me now is ruth

marcus, editorial writer for "the washington post" and by phone katherine fenton who asked that question last night. thank you very much. tell me, did you feel that your question was answered by governor romney? >> you know, i can't say i thought my question was answered by either. i was trying to illicit a response what plans they would have for this future in order to rectify these inequalities and i feel like rather than that response, i got more of either diversion to a different discussion or a laundry list of things they have done for women in the past. >> did you go up to either of them afterwards? the president lingered for 25 minutes, mitt romney for a shorter period of time. did you have an opportunity to follow up and get feedback? >> the opportunity that we had with both candidates afterwards was much more of a pleasant socializing opportunity. they complimented our questions but there were so many people

there we didn't have an opportunity to talk one on one and flol up about their response. it was more pleasantries and nice to meet you and thank you for being here, things of that nature. >> you went into this according to gallup you were undecided. have you come out of it with any conclusion as to whom you'll vote for? >> you know, i still find that i'm undecided because i was so grateful for that opportunity yesterday and i heard a lot of really wonderful responses and points but at the same time, a lot of the questions were kind of danced around more than answered explicitly. so like i can't say i've come out with a preference for either side. i haven't aligned myself with a candidate quite yet. but it definitely helped me sort a few things out and i've become more informed and i've also gotten a greater search for more knowledge to do more independent research of my own. >> one of the things that really went viral on social media was the president's -- the president -- governor romney's comment about binders of women. ruth marcus and katherine, stand

by, because governor romney in virginia at his rally, try to do a do-over and explain that today. let's listen. >> katherine spoke about women and women's equality in the work force and i asked the question that she deserves an answer to, which is why is it that there are 3.6 million more women in poverty today than when the president took office. >> and so he's trying to refocus it, ruth, to the economic issues, that's clearly the message he wants to convey to katherine and to women around the country. >> absolutely. i have to say, i was not as offended or whatever the right words were by the binders of women comment. you can have a debate whether it was a real effort he initiated or something sort of pledged

forced on him. about his effort to increase diversity in the work force. i thought that was an interesting point. both of the candidates making their pitches to women. governor romney's pitch was the economic pitch. president obama's pitch had to do with defending planned parenthood, notice he threw that in with the big bird example. and about access to contraception. and those are crucial. chest bumping are these guys going to start shoving each other nature of the debate in which i thought you saw the dials on the focus groups really turn down when that started. women voters did not seem to like that very much. >> katherine f you're still there, let me ask you, you were sitting on that stage, how did you react to all of the sort of

theatrics of it? because it did seem to many of us, we've watched a lot of debates over the years, and i've never seen one that was that contentious, where they were not just once walking into each other's space but they were really getting into heated arguments with each other. did that offend you? >> contentious is the word i would have used had you asked me to describe it. i wouldn't say i was offended. i was slightly disappointed. this is our president and the man who would love to be president and their representatives of our country. the a debate to have them to behave in that nature and constantly cutting each other off, not really respecting the moderator indicating it was time to move to the next question and circling each other as you saw on tv, it just -- it seemed like some poor choices were made at times. i feel like maybe hold back a little bit and show more restrapts rather than get so

contentious and kind of aggressive toward each other. >> did you think one or the other was more aggressive or more disrespectful? did you fault them both equally? >> i feel like they both had their moments. i think that governor romney seemed to be a little bit rattled so his aggression was slightly more apparent to me, but president obama seemed more subdued which doesn't make it any better or worse. they just approached it in different ways. you could tell both kind of were on the defense and ready to get right back at them and i think the manner they did it in some instances was maybe less than favorable. katherine, thank you so much. this has been a dramatic 24 hours for you. we appreciate your chatting with us today. ruth, i wanted to ask you, do you think that men and women react differently to the aggressiveness we saw on stage last night? >> i think what i've seen from the initial reports of various

dial groups and focus groups including these interesting walmart moms we've been to loing through the -- following through the campaign suggest they do respond differently to the aggressiveness, women whether it's -- you know i'm going to get myself in a little trouble here, whether they have less tolerance for aggressiveness or whether we're moms tired of listening to bickering children and a little bit of a response like that last night, i think they have less tolerance for that. i think that there was and kathsds rin suggested this, a little more of that from governor romney. he's in a tough situation because to the extent that his aggressiveness edges into being disrespectful towards the president of the united states, and i think there were a time or two when it did. i think that also puts him at risk with this group that's really essential to either of their faiths, three weeks from now. >> thank you so much. ruth marcus. >> thanks, andrea. >> and did the president repair

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♪ ambiance [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. your head-start to home cooked. mr. president, i voted for you in 2008. what have you done or accomplished to earn my vote in 2012? i'm not that optimistic as i was. most things i need for every day living are very expensive. >> well, we've gone through a tough four years, no doubt about it. but four years ago, i told the american people and i told you, i would cut taxes for middle-class families and i did. i told you i would cut taxes for small businesses and i have. i said i would end the war in iraq and i did. >> the president last night answering a question from michael jones, who said he voted for him four years ago and expressed what many democrats say in the polls at least that a tough economy under president obama has made their life

harder. joining me now ben labolt, obama campaign national press secretary. thank you very much. what do you say to michael jones. >> thanks for having me on. >> about his doubts and katherine fenton still undecided after last night's debate, doesn't feel her questions were really answered. >> well, y heard the president outline the progress we've made since the financial crisis last night, losing 800,000 jobs a month when he came into office, businesses have created more than 5.2 million jobs, manufacturing is resurgent which had been in decline, auto industry back, investing in areas like community colleges and working training to ensure our workers haves the skills needed to compete in the 21st century economy and i think he exposed governor romney's plans for what they were, a tax deal. middle-class families that their taxesens would go up.

>> do you feel that it was too contentious because there are some who say that it was really unpleasant or difficult to watch, especially women voters undecided votersuncomfortable t watch. especially women. were they too much in each other's face? >> well, you know, the president feels passionately of what's at stake for the middle class in this election and during the last debate, you heard governor romney try to make it out he hadn't supported the policies he did for six years. he is running for president for six years. he's endorsed every half baked tea party policy that's been out there and suddenly he pretended the plans weren't his at the last debate and important the president pointed out that the $5 trillion cut was a sketchy deal. the romney's 12 millions jobs pledge doesn't add up. economists project under the current policy, 12 million jobs

created but under governor romney's budget plan, millions of dollars jobs to be lost. should be investing in manufacturing, infravstructure. >> thank you very much. a very contentious 24 hours as we continue heading towards the final debate next week in florida. thank you very much, ben. what political story makes headlines in 24 hours? that's next right here. four years later... our enemies have been brought to justice. our heroes are coming home. assembly lines are humming again. there are still challenges to meet. children to educate. a middle class to rebuild. but the last thing we should do is turn back now. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. [ male announcer ] you start your day... love you, too.

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which political story will make headlines in 24 hours? chris is back with us. chris, as tom brokaw said the other day, it's the boss and the big dog in ohio. >> this is, if you are looking for an event that is going to have a lot of people at it, andrea, parma, ohio, bruce springsteen, bill clinton. i don't know whether it's bill clinton and then springsteen or springsteen and bill clinton.

they don't usually play headliner. this is a big event. springsteen did events for john kerry in 2004. been a little unwilling to do more in 2012 for obama but this will be a hugely attended and hugely covered event with i would say bill clinton being the single best surrogate on either side in this campaign. >> as bill clinton said, again this week, in washington on monday night, he has been made the secretary of explaining stuff. so you'll hear the speech and also get a lot of music. where do we get tickets? >> exactly. >> that does it for us. see you tomorrow in washington. thanks so much, chris. follow the show online and on twitter. tamron hall has a look at when's next. >> hi. we're picking up where you left off. i'll talk with president obama's supporter, mayor of atlanta, reid comparing the first presidential debate to the

ali-frazier fight and knocked down. so what's he comparing last night's slugfest to? did the president effectively pull himself off the mat by bringing up romney's 47% comment and the showdown aver the administration's handling of the crisis in libya is one of those big moments people are still talking about this morning. and did body language determine the real winner of the night? from the circling moves to the glaring stares to what an expert calls the five-finger move. what did he learn about the president and romney in the body language category from that 90-minute showdown? we're up in three. [old english accent] safe driver, multi-car, paid in full -- a most fulsome bounty indeed, lord jamie. thou cometh and we thy saveth! what are you doing? we doth offer so many discounts, we have some to spare. oh, you have any of those homeowners discounts? here we go. thank you. he took my shield, my lady.

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hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. what voters and seasoned political junkies today call one of the midwest presidential debates ever. it qualifies as the most